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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22422298">A Throne of Gold and Carnage</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkfruit/pseuds/milkfruit'>milkfruit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Katekyou Hitman Reborn!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Royalty, M/M, bel is an actual prince and yamamoto is a knight in training</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:53:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,230</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22422298</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkfruit/pseuds/milkfruit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Belphegor is about to be married off for political reasons, though Bel wants nothing more than to life a live free of the restraints of a significant other. </p>
<p>But then he meets someone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Belphegor/Yamamoto Takeshi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Throne of Gold and Carnage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Lussuria is transgender and will use she/her pronouns. Mammon is nonbinary and will use they/them pronouns.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Prince Belphegor was seated across from a French Viscount’s daughter at a table in his reception hall. Things were not going well. Bel and the girl, no older than 17, were at odds with each other, as many were with the arrogant prince. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lussuria, Bel’s maid and primary caretaker, stands at the door to make sure no one interrupted their conversation, and she had even went and made them strawberry shortcake — one of Bel’s favorites — to ease the mood a bit. By this point, the girl at the opposite end of the table had stopped eating in order to engage Bel in conversation, though the young prince was having none of that. He leisurely sliced his cake with his fork, popping a forkful of it into his mouth as she spoke.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Bel considered every word to be nonsense. It was nothing but the drivel of a woman who thirsted for the crown and nothing else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel wasn’t exactly looking for marriage based on love. Bel believed himself to be past the point of being loved by others, and he only wished to assume the throne as he was now. But he was told by his father that if he did not marry soon, another man would take over the Kingdom in his place. Bel was basically being forced to settle down with a mystery woman in order to keep his position, which was far from ideal to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In truth, Bel planned on marrying and then disposing of his new bride as soon as possible. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But no one had to know that besides him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The exchange ended abruptly when Bel made a snide remark that she didn’t like, and she left on her own accord. Bel finishes up his cake as she exits, and Lussuria approaches Bel with a heavy sigh. “Another one rejected? My, my, Master Bel, how discerning your tastes are! That must have been the third one this month!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel stabs a stray strawberry slice with his fork and twirls it around in front of his face, grinning all the while. “The prince has no time for those that want to steal his crown, shishishi,” Bel says simply, like it was a fact of life that he deserved the throne in full. He eats the piece of strawberry, and Lussuria pinches his cheek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ohh, you’re so difficult!” She takes his empty plate and the other plate back to the kitchen, and Bel retreats to his room.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Squalo Superbi, the leader of the Royal Knights, looks at his new recruits with discretion. He had them spar a bit to assess their abilities, and only a few had stood out to him as decent soldiers. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Voooooi, weaklings! Listen up! Those of you I’ve deemed worthy will duel </span>
  <em>
    <span>me </span>
  </em>
  <span>next!” The rookies looked scared stiff, to be mild about it. Many of them fell flat almost instantly, but one of them… one of them put up quite the fight. “You! What’s your name!” Squalo asked as the boy kneeled against the hilt of his sword, bent at the knee, defeated. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Y-Yamamoto Takeshi, sir,” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hmph! Well, Yamamoto, looks like you’re the most competent one here! Congratulations,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To be frank, Yamamoto’s technique needed work, and his skills were amateur at best, but it was nothing some training couldn’t iron out. Squalo picked the five top fighters in the group to train personally; the others were sent to the knights’ generic training grounds to learn the ways of fighting for the Kingdom. Squalo, however, specialized in the sword, which is what he’d be teaching to the new, young recruits.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Squalo had come from a noble family where swordplay was pretty much predisposed in his very blood. But these guys, these guys came from nothing. Looking over Yamamoto’s file later, it would seem that he was the son of a fish merchant, and he lived most of his life in middle class at best or poverty at worst. His father Tsuyoshi was once a skilled knight, but was discharged after an injury…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Squalo slams the file shut. It didn’t really matter what circumstances Yamamoto came from, as long as he could fight.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>“You have History at 11, Math at 1, and Literature at 3,” Lussuria says, tying Bel’s thin ribbon around his neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was tutoring day, so Bel was in for a day of absolute </span>
  <em>
    <span>boredom.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Bel could blow through these topics easily, though usually he just messed with his instructor by giving purposely wrong answers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, and what do you want to eat tonight?” Lussuria asks on her way out the door of the reception room that Bel typically studies in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sushi,” Bel says, completely serious. Lussuria puts her hands on her hips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Master Bel, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>know </span>
  </em>
  <span>you just fired our sushi chef! You said his sushi ‘sucked’! What </span>
  <em>
    <span>else </span>
  </em>
  <span>do you want?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t care,” Bel sing-songs. “Sushi or die.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lussuria sighs. That was practically Bel’s way of saying </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘find a sushi chef by the end of the night or I’ll throw a tantrum.’ </span>
  </em>
  <span>And Bel’s little bouts of anger were known to end in bloodshed. Lussuria would probably be fine, but the other chefs? It’d be the end of them for sure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lussuria paces around the castle, until she runs into Squalo. “Ohhhh, Squ, what am I to do?!” She laments dramatically, biting her nails in exasperation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hah?” Squalo asks. “What are you talking about?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Master Bel said he wanted sushi, but we have no sushi chef!! This isn't gonna be good… I need to find someone by the end of the night so Bel doesn’t go on another one of his rampages!” She perks up just a bit, putting her hands together gleefully all of a sudden. “Oh, Squ, do </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>know how to make sushi? With your blade skills, I bet you could--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck no!” Squalo yells, but then an idea pops into his head… “But,” Squalo smirks. “I know a guy.”</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Squalo didn’t go into town often, but this time was different. He was on a mission to find Tsuyoshi Yamamoto.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luckily, his shop was just on the outskirts of town, and was relatively easy to find. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Squalo comes inside the humble sushi joint, he’s greeted immediately by Tsuyoshi, who was getting ready for the day by slicing up the fish. The place stunk like raw fish, but Squalo didn’t expect anything less.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, come in, come in! Take a seat and I’ll be with you in a moment,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...I’m not a customer. I’m the new head of the Knights and strategy captain, Squalo Superbi.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tsuyoshi’s gaze on Squalo was sharp. “...” He stops chopping up the fish, putting his knives down and wiping his hands on his apron. “What is this about? Have you come to draft me? I’m sorry, but I was injured in battle long ago and can’t fight much anymore,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not why I’m here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tsuyoshi looks at Squalo inquisitively, but listens on as he continues. “I’m here to make you a royal sushi chef,” Tsuyoshi blinks once, his eyes going wide. “You’ll be paid handsomely. You won’t have to worry about the well-being of you or your son ever again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tsuyoshi seems to mull it over. It was true that his shop wasn’t exactly a hit with the locals, as it was technically foreign cuisine, and being a royal sushi chef would mean that he’d get to keep an eye on Takeshi more often…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well?” Squalo asks impatiently. “What’s your decision?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tsuyoshi, mind made up, bows to Squalo and says, “I will go with you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Squalo smiles. Mission accomplished.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>Once Squalo comes back to the palace, Lussuria is waiting patiently by the door. “Ohhh, Squ, you’re back! And, ah, you must be Mr. Yamamoto!” Lussuria shakes Tsuyoshi’s hand, excited to see him. This would mean no bloody tirades and no dead chefs! Wonderful!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, yes,” Tsuyoshi says, rather taken aback by Lussuria’s forwardness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excellent, excellent! Well, I’ll be showing you towards the kitchen! We expect great things from you, Mr. Yamamoto!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please, call me Tsuyoshi,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once night rolled around, Bel was sufficiently craving sushi, and Lussuria comes to Bel’s room to ask what kind of sushi Bel wanted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fatty tuna, Philadelphia rolls, and sashimi,” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel’s tastes haven’t changed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lussuria goes back downstairs to relay Bel’s preferences to their new chef, and much to their relief, they have all the ingredients in the kitchen at that time. Tsuyoshi gets going on the food, slicing and rolling the sushi to perfection. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel comes down eventually, and he’s served his sushi by Lussuria. Lussuria was admittedly still anxious about the whole thing, not knowing whether or not Tsuyoshi’s sushi would be up to Bel’s standards… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, Bel seemed happy with the whole setup, gobbling down the sushi in no time. Lussuria looks on in suspense, and Bel grins that usual Cheshire smile of his.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Compliments to the chef,” Bel says, and Lussuria lets out a sigh of relief.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>The next day, Squalo begins to train the rookies seriously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two of them drop out to be regular knights and not special ops, which disappoints Squalo but nothing can be done. If they’re weaklings, they’re weaklings.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That left three, including Yamamoto. But, as expected, Yamamoto showed the most promise. “Voi, kid, where’d you learn the sword?” Squalo pulls Yamamoto aside and asks him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, well, my dad taught me most of the stuff I know,” Yamamoto admits candidly. “He used to be a great swordsman before his injury… I joined the knights in part to show my dad that I’m serious about learning the sword, Captain Squalo.” He bows to Squalo, who just ‘tch’s, and turns his back to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You need to be serious about it for yourself, not for others.” He says. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Haha, of course,” Yamamoto laughs, and his lighthearted demeanor </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>grates on Squalo’s nerves. “But what is power without using it to protect the ones you love?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s what I’m talking about, you’re weak as you are, and you’ll continue to be weak if you keep thinking that way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly, Yamamoto takes on a serious look, through that soft smile he was sporting. “I plan to prove you wrong, Captain Squalo.”</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>“Master Bel~!” Lussuria calls, and Bel was, as usual, in his room, throwing his knives at a marker on the wall. “Master Bel, your father calls for you! It’s about your upcoming Birthday Party, I believe!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel groans. To be honest, he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>looking forward to this year’s birthday celebration. It was the prime opportunity for his father to invite all the noble daughters in the realm, and push marriage on him even more than usual. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine,” Bel concedes, though he </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>didn’t want to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His father is sitting in the reception hall, waiting for his son, when Bel arrives. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, Bel,” he says, and Bel’s father’s warmth towards him was always one of his biggest weaknesses and one of the things Bel hated most about him. “There you are. I came to speak to you about--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The party? Yeah, I know already.” Bel quips. “The prince wants to be in charge of the guest list this year,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, that won’t do,” His father frowns. “After all, this party may just decide who you will be wed to,”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel growls in frustration. “The prince doesn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to get married!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ll thank me someday, Bel. It’s for the best.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel pouts, storming off and slamming the door behind him, returning to his room. On his way up, he’s stopped by Lussuria.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, Master Bel!” She calls after him. “Squalo wanted to see you in the training grounds! You’d better hurry before he gets impatient and comes to get you himself~”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugghh, what now?” Bel angrily goes to see what the Knight Captain wanted, his footsteps heavy and his mouth downturned in an unpleasant frown.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once he arrives at his destination, Squalo goes to see him immediately. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you want?” Bel asks. “It better be good.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Voi, don’t be ungrateful! I wanted to introduce you to these three here!” Bel looks behind Squalo, and there are three youths there, probably around Bel’s age, one looked a little older. Regardless, they were all teenagers that were no doubt under Squalo’s tutelage. “They’ll be training under me, and your father instructed them to be your bodyguards for the upcoming party.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Squalo shoves Bel in front of the three boys, and Bel mutters a displeased, “H-Hey, don’t be so pushy,” and the three of them bow to Bel, kneeling before him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your Highness!” They say in unison.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>That </span>
  </em>
  <span>gets Bel smiling again. Bel always liked to be reminded of his power and status. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shishishi,” Bel giggles. “I expect great things from you all~”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Your Highness!” They say again, and Bel hums happily. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yamamoto glances up at Bel a few times; being in his royal presence was entirely new, and Yamamoto, being an immigrant’s son, was not very familiar with the royalty of this country… It was so amazing to see Prince Belphegor so up-close…! He didn’t feel worthy, in a way. And Bel’s attitude only exacerbated this feeling, as Bel looked down on them like they were lowly commoners.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bel and Squalo argue for a bit, until Bel returns to the palace, and Squalo turns back towards the three boys. “You all seem respectful towards His Highness,” he says lowly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t let </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything </span>
  </em>
  <span>happen to him on December 22nd. Got it?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sir, yes, sir!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey! Hope y'all liked this fic! If there's enough of a demand for me to write more, I will! For now I want to focus on finishing up "Facade," but if this fic gets enough good reception then I'll write some more! Thank you!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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